Ryan Gosling to Star in Universal’s New ‘Wolfman’ Movie

The rousing success of The Invisible Man has inspired Universal Pictures to unleash its iconic stable of classic monsters, with Karen Kusama already attached to direct Blumhouse’s Dracula, and tonight we have news that Ryan Gosling is in negotiations to get hairy in the upcoming Wolfman.

While it’s unknown right now how close this story will be to the original tale of Larry Talbot, the new Wolfman is believed to be set in the present day and is in the vein of the Jake Gyllenhaal thriller Nightcrawler, but with a supernatural twist, as reported by Variety.

Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, who wrote for Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, have written the script, which is based on an original pitch by Gosling himself. So it sounds like he’s pretty into it, though it is unlikely production will begin until after the busy actor completes an upcoming astronaut film at MGM.

Executives at Universal have been meeting with directors over the past month and could be making a decision soon. Cory Finley, who recently directed HBO’s Bad Education, is reportedly among the directors in consideration for the job, though there is no frontrunner at this time.

Universal’s original film featuring Lawrence “Larry” Talbot, who is bitten by creature of folklore and then turns into a werewolf, was 1941’s The Wolf Man starring the great Lon Chaney Jr. (pictured above), who reprised the role in (the first ever “shared universe” movie) Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945), and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). Most recently, director Joe Johnston gave us an excellent quasi-remake with 2010’s (Best Makeup Oscar Winner) The Wolfman starring Benicio Del Toro.

Universal’s first werewolf film was actually Werewolf of London, starring Henry Hull, released in 1935.

Read our review of The Invisible Man here.

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